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Advocates Win 'Exceptional' Boost for Alzheimer's Research

The 2013 budget proposed by President Barack Obama last week would give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not a penny more than it received this year. But the Administration found a way to give special attention to one disease: Alzheimer's, which will receive $80 million in new research funding from a source outside NIH's budget. This month, the Administration also announced, to the surprise of many at NIH, that the agency will reprogram $50 million in its current budget for the disease. Alzheimer's research advocates credit the new focus to several years of organized lobbying.